Thursday, April 20, 2006

Letter to a well-wisher(?)

Your mail (portions quoted in red, below) arrived on my desk as a 'Forward'. I hope the reason for not including me on your original list wasn't that you considered me expendable, and thus decided that I need not be warned, but was just due to your suspicion of my usual cynicism in such matters. To be fair, the report did raise some questions in my mind which, I am sure, must have also occurred to you as a lawyer. My comments are in italics.

This was on Pittsburgh's WTAE Channel 4 News.A few days ago,Actually in 2004 (in some Indian backwater) as Googling the incident revealeda person was re-charging his Cell Phone at home. Just at that time a call came in and he answered it with the instrument still connected to the outlet.OKAfter a few secondsHow did anyone establish the time frameElectricity flowed into the Cell Phone un-restrainedHow is this deduced? It could have been that the batteries had been heating up (known to happen with many faulty batteries, including in laptops - several of which have even exploded or caught fire)and the young Man was thrown to the ground Would 'fell' have not described it adequately? 'thrown' would indicate force ... difficult to ascertain by one not present, unless the man was thrown a distance away ... one wonders if he was still holding on to the phone after this? with a heavy thud.OK. So that's why ...His Parents rushed to the room only to find him unconscious, with a weak heartbeat and burnt fingers. He was rushed to the nearby Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.Glad they did not do what many could have accidently done under the circs: Pick up the phone! Strangely, the story - wherever it, or its variations appear - contains no information on whether the phone was found burnt, whether the charger was checked, nothing - in fact - that would make sense if such a warning was to be really helpful and not just a scare.BTW, the Pittsburgh broadcaster's English is pretty suspect, but at least they pronounce their capital letters clearly!

My conclusion: 'Answering' the phone would have nothing to do with it. Just picking it up would have been dangerous enough! Like picking up any electrical object that was short-circuiting. In which case it must have happened the moment he picked it up!!!

Although the U S Consumer Product Safety Commission does not identify using a charging cellphone as an unsafe practice in its recommendations, here's some serious advice based on the incident (since it's always better to be cautious):

TO CHARGE1. Switch off the socket power where the charger is to be connected.2. Insert charger lead into phone3. Insert charger plug into socket4. Place phone away from self5. Switch on socket power

AT THE END OF CHARGING TIME (OR TO ANSWER PHONE) there are TWO options:The FIRST:1. Switch off power to charger2. Disconnect charger from socket3. Disconnect charger from phone4. Use phoneThe SECOND (in order to avoid the above 4 steps):Get the nearest available mulla to pick it up and pass it to you!

words of wisdom

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have scrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that the saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought and, though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.Bertrand Russell

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.Noam Chomsky

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.Albert Einstein

Each century seems to take on a particular character as we view it in retrospect. How will the 20th Century be remembered? My guess is that this dramatic span of 100 years will ultimately be marked not by computers or the Internet, but by the drive toward individual freedom, the breaking of human barriers of prejudice, and the opening of society to include all people.John S. Spong

DESIDERATA
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.Max Ehrmann